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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

OK, so yeah. I didn't go and see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. But it wasn't out of laziness. OK, it was partly out of laziness. But instead I'd rather blame the following things, in no particular oder. The British Open Championship Golf Tournament, the fact that I came into possession of FREE Showtime AND Cinemax (watched Django a second time, it was great), and the fact that I noticed Philip Seymour Hoffman's final film (A Most Wanted Man) is debuting this weekend. Those all played a major role, with the latter serving as icing on the cake. Mostly because I tend to be extremely frugal when it comes to going to the theater (AKA I only have 1 free pas left)...

I did watch some great stuff on Showtime and Cinemax, though. No, not Ray Donovan. At least not yet. But I did catch a decent "documentary" on The Eagles (kinda light on actual info, but still a decent watch), and the aforementioned Django Unchained. So it wasn't all for naught. I do apologize, though. Not just for not going to see Planet of the Apes, but mostly because I'm probably not going to see the PSH flick, either. Yeah. I'm all talk. Which works out well, because I have about 50 movie channels, and I really enjoy to talk. So there's always that...

And there's always sports, too. Which is why I've got another Summer smattering for ya, this week. It'll mostly be Red Sox talk, and me laughing at Tony Dungy. But I'm sure I'll find some time and/or room to finagle in another tidbit or two. Mmmmmm. tidbits...

Enjoy...

*Let's start with Dungy...

I have to admit, it's always refreshing when someone who pedals their moral high ground for a living gets exposed as a fraud. OR, at the very least, gets knocked down a peg or two. And that's what's happened here, when Tony Dungy went on the record as saying that he wouldn't draft the openly gay, Michael Sam, in fear that he may serve as a distraction to the team. Now, I could go on my rant saying that no one that has had their own issues with their family (child committed suicide?) should be going on national TV speaking to the benefits of "family values" and "strong leadership", and just rip Dungy down like he was Lance Armstrong. But that would be undeserving, and would only serve to muddy my point. Which is this:

Tony Dungy is a likeable guy. And deservedly so. A guy who's likability put him in a position where he feels the need to offer his opinion on the "right way to live". Fine. Seems ludicrous to me that someone with such issues with his own family would be put in a position to preach to the American public advice on how to fix theirs (I liken it to former junkies talking to clean and sober high school kids about not using drugs...). But whatever floats the public's collective boat. I mean, he;s only been given this power through book sales and praise from other popular media personalities...

However, if you're in such a position, it will be discovered, usually sooner rather than later, whether or not you deserve to be in that position, OR if you've been mistakenly cast as some sort of superior being. The latter having been what has happened here. Tony Dungy was never an extraordinary leader. He was never some righteous dude spreading a message of peace and love. Nope, he was a football coach. A damn good one, I'll give you that. But he wasn't a speaker, wasn't a writer, isn't an academic, and has no real experience when dealing with anyone that doesn't wear pads and shower en masse for a living. He was a football coach. And there's a place for him in society after that job is done. I'm not saying he's now a useless and soulless human being, bad guy, or a bad father. But it's unlikely, given the environs of said coaching job (AKA his carer), that the skills that made him effective there are going to translate to the public at large...

That's why I can't say I'm surprised he got tongued tied (at best) and revealed himself to be the extremely limited public figure that I always pegged him to be. Just like I'm not surprised that the NBC PR team jumped to his defense by tossing around fancy words like "context", even though the context was easily understood from the release of the original clips...

But, yeah. Tony Dungy. A black man in America that doesn't think a member of a minority group should be given a shot because he'd probably be a "distraction". Mmm hmm. Sure. That certainly sounds like the hot take of a "leader" to me. A leader that openly supported other "distractions" like Michael Vick and Johnny Manziel, at that. A fact that couldn't more easily point to Dungy's inconsistency at best, and bigotry at worst...

So, yeah. More or less, this is what happens when you send a football coach out to give lectures and lessons about the moral high ground. Which is to say, they expose themselves faster than Paul Reubens at a Monday matinee. A dated simile, perhaps. But a damn good one, and I think it helps to drive the point home...

Tony Dungy: Why the Hell were you ever listening to him in the first place?

*Speaking of fraudish Teds of the highest order, Glenn Rivers MD has made sure to get his name back in the news this past week. Saying he'll refuse to coach if Donald Sterling isn't officially removed as Clippers' owner. Which is laughable for me on TWO fronts:

1) I'd love to see them call his bluff. As is well chronicled here, I don't think Doc is any more talented than any other guy that's given one of the most talented rosters in the league. AKA Almost all of NBA coaches are about as useful as tits on a boar. Even if that may ultimately make for one helluva sexy boar...

AND 2) The fact that he continues to insert himself into this "I won't play for a racist debate". OK, GLENN. We get it. But those of us that actually remember shit also get the fact that you had to have known when you signed on in LA that you were going to work for a WELL DOCUMENTED racist. ITALICS!

So, yeah. Keep talkin', Doc. And I'll just wait a few years to go all Dungy on, say, the first transgender player to try and play in the NBA. Yeah, that sounds about right...

*Through the years, many of you have suggested that I write for Bleacher Report. A suggestion that, I may add, usually came from a supportive if not naive place. I appreciated the sentiment, but couldn't get behind the idea due to B/R's lack of credibility and what I perceived to be an incredibly shady business model...

And while I've long been proven right that B/R was never the place for me, this recent post to Deadspin really turned that opinion into cold hard fact. It's a great read, but it's long. So here are the Cliffs:

-kid interned at B/R
-B/R higher ups strung him along
-B/R consistently claimed their business model was to promote within from their staff of unpaid bloggers
-B/R barely ever hired within, and instead took their buyout money to buy other writers who'd previously ripped B/R publicly
-kid made $200 in 3 years at B/R, while generating at least 3 million page views for them

Moral of the story: Writing for free is fine. But writing for free in direct support of a company that's making money off of you is not. That was my problem with Bleacher Report from day one. And while it's disappointing to hear about a talented writer's difficult experiences, I can't say it surprises me one bit. B/R has been in it SOLELY to make money from the get go. Claiming any other premise is disingenuous at best, and in most cases could probably be labeled as an outright lie...

Unfortunately, a lot of people fell for their schtick. Which combined with their amazing ability to manipulate Google search results, means they're probably only going to get bigger and more omnipresent (see: their replacing Sports Illustrated as the sports content provider for Turner Sports. L. O. L). But give the piece I linked to a read, and I'm sure you'll never intentionally give them your business again. No matter how much you're tempted to click on their 'HOTTEST WAGS OF THE NHL' slideshow. Just check out some porn, instead. OR if you're at work, get the fuck back to work so you can get home and watch some freakin' porn. OR a real move. Like this one...

*That's 'The Newburgh Sting", a documentary that recently aired on HBO chronicling the shady tactics used by the FBI to "stop" a 2009 terror plot based in upstate New York. Per usual, I advise taking more than a few grains of salt before viewing a documentary. But this one is particularly long on audio, video, facts, and precedence. These 4 guys aren't exactly the "West Memphis Three", but they're not far off...

So give it a watch. And check out the other documentaries coming up. Pretty sure one is on Nixon, but I forget what the other one is about. Whatever, you have a TV. They're on HBO on the next few upcoming Mondays. Now get on it...

Finally, we have the Red Team. 8-2 in their last 10, and seemingly on their way back into something that resembles contention in the race for the AL Playoffs. And allow me to stress "seemingly". Yes, they've looked very good in the past few weeks. But this isn't the first time this season we've seen this team go on a winning streak. Forgive me if I wait to see if they can string this into a 13-4 run, or something in that neighborhood. But this definitely falls into the "fool me once"-type category...

Good news is that you have to play well to go 8-2, and the Sox have been doing exactly that. Matter of fact, pretty much everyone that's been struggling has come around together. Combine that with what's always been well above average pitching, and that accounts for the current run. And if this team can continue to hit in the manner in which it's hit over the past 2 weeks, then it's possible that the Sox could even become buyers as we near the July 31st trade deadline. Granted, it's unlikely they play well enough for it to come to that. But hopefully Boston will be close enough to the race where some fine tuning to the roster will be all that's needed to hold the course. Unless, of course, that "course" doesn't involve resigning Jon Lester and bringing in another big bat in the off season. In which case this would have just been a shit year full of underwhelming performances...

But, yeah. I'm hoping and banking that it doesn't come to that...

However, it has come to this. I'm done, friends. Hope you enjoyed this week's edition, and I'll catch you next time. Be good...